Sail Rig and Wood Duck?

Builder's Forum
1

I'm close to pulling the trigger and starting a Wood Duck 12 Hybrid (actually 2 of them).  Feel free to talk me into or out of that decision.

When done, I'm planning on building the Sail Rig to go with them and was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on whether this is a good combo or if I should look at a different kayak given my long term plans to add a sail.  

My hope is an easy kayak for a large range of folks visiting us that I can purpose into a sailboat when the wind calls.

Thanks

 

2

A lot of folks prefer the short kayaks for sailing. Mark Balogh even preferred a stubby kayak . The upside is hot maneuverability and portable, low wetted surface, less now knifing the diwnside is little to no room for overnight camp cruising and Id personally an awful lot safer in a full sized sea kayak sail rigged if I were offshore.  A lot of people like the dpritely behavior of the short hulled kayaks under sail. 

 

 

Pete

3

Be sure to check out the Mill Creek 13, it has an option for a sail rig.

4

  We have two WD hybrids 10' and 12', we love the boats and have never been disappointed with our choice. They are light, stable, shallow draft and very maneuverable. The only thing I can think to suggest for you is adding skegs or maybe rudders if you plan to sail a lot. They tend to wander when you aren't paddling. I can't fault the design - if I had a choice it would be shallow draft over tracking anyway. Our 10'er tends to track better but also requires about an inch more water than the 12' model, it has a more pronounced 'V' in the hull.  If you can live with loss of storage capacity maybe a retractable skeg would fit the bill? I have no sailing experience and cannot comment on it but will say these paddle so easily we've never missed the option.

 

  Brings to mind the saying 'one boat can't be everything' and I'll add that the WD is pretty close.

 

  Hope that helps, enjoy your builds!

5

Thanks for the feedback.  We have a cabin and many visitors, so I'm hoping these will get a lot of use as our fleet of small boats grows.  

Very much looking forward to the builds.  My brother-in-law has a woodworking buisness and we'll be building them there.  

6

I've been pondering the same thing myself.
The author of the article linked to the sail rig page had this to say:

"Shorter recreational kayaks won't match the top speeds of traditional sea kayaks, but they will be easier to handle.  Given my choice of CLC's 70+ kayak models, I'd mount my CLC SailRig on the Wood Duck 12.  It would squirt along joyfully, fast and nimble in close-handling, the cockpit dry and voluminous. "

7

   Bumping this thread to see if anyone has done this.

My son loves his WD12 but wants to try a sail out. Any thoughts on adding the sail rig CLC sells with the Mill Creeks? 

 

Thanks

BV